Four's a Crowd (1938)
Directed by Michael Curtiz
Genres - Comedy, Romance |
Sub-Genres - Screwball Comedy |
Release Date - Aug 4, 1938 (USA - Unknown), Aug 4, 1938 (USA - Limited) |
Run Time - 91 min. |
Countries - United States |
MPAA Rating - NR
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Synopsis by Hal Erickson
A standard-issue "screwball comedy" of the 1930s, Four's a Crowd starred a quartet of Warner Bros' biggest stars: Errol Flynn, Olivia DeHavilland, Rosalind Russell and Patric Knowles. Flynn plays a publicity agent hired to stir up "good press" for a nasty millionaire (Walter Connolly). Errol accomplishes this by going back to his old job as editor of a newspaper owned by Knowles, then using the paper to elucidate Connolly's virtues. Along the way, he romances Olivia de Havilland, who plays Connolly's daughter, and Rosalind Russell, portraying--surprise, surprise--Knowles' star reporter. Much to the amazement of the audience, Flynn ends up not with his frequent costar DeHavilland but with Russell. Fast-moving and chucklesome, Four's a Crowd was nothing new; chances are it would never have been made had it not been for the success of the vaguely similar MGM comedy Libelled Lady (36), which likewise had a quadruple-barreled starring lineup (Spencer Tracy, Jean Harlow, William Powell and Myrna Loy).
Characteristics
Keywords
agent [representative], assignment, boss [employer], bride, client, daughter, editor, employment, executive, family, headlines, image [picture], lady, love, man, marriage, millionaire, nasty, news, newspaper, press, pressure, public, public-relations, publicity, relationship, reporter, romance, secrets, virtue, woman
